World Meteorological Organization

Beneficiary Countries:

9 countries in Eastern Africa: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda                

Regional SWF Centres:

• RSMC-SWF Nairobi (to provide guidance for whole Eastern Africa domain) (since 2011) (password protected)
• RSMC-SWF Dar Es Salaam (to provide guidance for Lake Victoria basin only) (since 2011) (password protected)

Other Regional Centres:

• RSMC-TC La Réunion (for tropical cyclone forecast support)
• Nowcasting products (as available through GCR African SWIFT website)
• ACMAD   
• RSMC Barcelona for Dust forecast products & SDS-WAS     

Global Centres/WMCs:

• WMC ECMWF; ENS Meteograms; and Forecaster User Guide
• UKMO (WMC Exeter( (Africa Web Viewer) (log-in require)
• NOAA/NCEP (WMC Washington); GFS/GEFS Meteograms & SkewT-LogP; MJO Forecast & Products; Heat wave products
• DWD (WMC Offenbach) (to access to global NWP data); WMC Offenbach graphical products
• CMA (WMC Beijing); Products for Africa including EFI 

Main Focus:

Heavy rain, strong winds, large waves (coastal areas of western Indian Ocean and Lake Victoria), Dry spells

Development planning inception:

2010

Present Status:

Phase-IV (sustain operations and continue further development) 

Download:

Regional Subprogramme Implementation Plan (RSIP) (Draft version November 2020)

• CREWS-East Africa (2023-2026); CREWS-Horn of Africa (2022-2026) & FINKERAT project (2022-2025)
• HIGHWAY-LVB project funds (2017-2021)
• Norwegian funds (2011-2015)

SWFP implementation in Eastern Africa

The development of SWFD-Eastern Africa was started as a 'demonstration project' (i.e. as SWFDP-Eastern Africa) with a technical planning workshop in Nairobi, Kenya (4-8 October, 2010) with initial participation of six countries (namely Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda) and with support of RSMC Nairobi and RFSC Dar Es Salaam (now RSMC Dar ES Salaam) as contributing Regional Centres and UKMO, ECMWF, NOAA/NCEP and DWD as contributing Global Centres. The first meeting of Regional Subproject Management Team (RSMT) was also held in Nairobi, Kenya on 21-24 June, 2011 to review the regional subproject implementation plan (RSIP) including timeline for the demonstration phase of the project. The demonstration (pilot phase) of the project was started in September 2011 with participation of six countries in the region. In May 2013, South Sudan also joined the subproject which then moved to its full demonstration phase in September 2013 with participation of seven countries. In later years, several training workshops were organized to develop capacity of the NMHSs on interpretation and use of NWP products in severe weather forecasting and delivery of warning services.

The Eighteenth World Meteorological Congress (Cg-18, June 2019) through its Resolution 15 (Cg-18) decided to remove the 'demonstration' designation of SWFDP to refer it as Severe Weather Forecasting programme (SWFP). Later, SWFDP-Eastern Africa also become SWFP Regional Subprogramme for Eastern Africa (SWFP-Eastern Africa).

Djibouti and Somalia joined SWFP-Eastern Africa by designating their national SWFP focal points in May 2023. 

SWFP training workshops are conducted for operational forecasters and public weather services (PWS) staff of the NMHSs on quite regular basis subject to availability of resources. The representatives of users of the host NMHS including especially disaster management offices and media are also invited to attend the SWFP workshops to improve engagement of NMHSs with users for delivery of warning services. During recent years, SWFP workshops have also focused on impact-based forecast and warning services (IBFWS).

Year

SWFP-Eastern Africa: Activities & Milestones since 2010

• CREWS/SWFP–Eastern Africa Training Workshop on Severe Weather and Impact-based Forecast and Warning Services (Kigali, Rwanda, 13-23 June 2023) (funded through FINKERAT project & CREWS-East Africa)
• Djibouti and Somalia joined SWFP-Eastern Africa by designating their national SWFP focal points in May 2023

• HIGHWAY/SWFP–Eastern Africa Training Workshop on Severe Weather and Impact-based Forecasting and Warning Services (ONLINE, 22-26 February 2021)

• Meeting of the Regional Sub-programme Management Team (RSMT) of SWFP-Eastern Africa (ONLINE, 11 May 2020) (Meeting Report)

• Eighteenth WM Congress (Cg-18, June 2019) through its Resolution 15 (Cg-18) decided among others to remove the 'demonstration' designation of the SWFDP and renamed it as Severe Weather Forecasting programme (SWFP). Subsequently, the SWFDP-Eastern Africa became SWFP-Eastern Africa
• SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (Nairobi, 29 January-8 February 2019) (funded through HIGHWAY-LVB project)

• SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (Addis Ababa, 16-27 November 2015)

• SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (Kigali,10-21 November 2014)

• South Sudan joined SWFDP-Eastern Africa as a participating country in May 2013
• Start of Full Demonstration phase (Field phase) in September, 2013 with involvement of 7 countries including South Sudan
• Two-week SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (GDPFS & PWS) (Bujumbura, 11-22 November 2013)
• Second Meeting of RSMT  to discuss progress of the project and evaluation of pilot phase, and to review RSIP for SWFDP-EA (Arusha, 27-31 May 2013) (Meeting Report)

• Two-week SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (GDPFS & PWS) (Entebbe, 19-30 November 2012)
• WMO SWFDP Mission to Uganda  (Entebbe, 7-8 June 2012) to assess forecasting and service delivery capacity for developing national implementation plans (IPs)
• WMO SWFDP Mission to Burundi  (Bujumbura, 4-5 June 2012) to assess forecasting and service delivery capacity for developing national IPs
• WMO SWFDP Mission to Rwanda (Kigali, 23-25 April 2012) to assess forecasting and service delivery capacity for developing national IPs
• RA I-SWFDP-EA NWP/Web Developers Workshop (Nairobi, 14-16 March 2012)

• Start of Demonstration (pilot phase) in September, 2011 involving 6 countries and launch of RSMC, Nairobi web portal 
• Two-week SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (GDPFS & PWS) (Arusha, 21 November-2 December 2011)
• First Meeting of RSMT to develop and review RSIP (Nairobi, 21-24 June 2011) (Meeting Report)
• RA I-SWFDP-EA NWP/Web Developers Workshop (Nairobi, 9-11 May 2011)

2010

• Technical Planning Workshop on SWFDP Development for Eastern Africa (Nairobi, 4-8 October 2010) (Meeting Report)
• Two-week SWFDP-Eastern Africa Training Workshop (GDPFS & PWS) (Dar Es Salaam,18-29 October 2010)